Supreme Court lets Fed Governor Cook keep job pending oral argument in January

Summary

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to remain in her post pending oral arguments in January on whether President Donald Trump has legal cause to fire her.The court's move is a blow to Trump, who has repeatedly and unsuccessfully asked federal courts to allow him to terminate Cook from the Fed's Board of Governors without delay while her lawsuit challenging her removal is pending.Trump has cited claims that Cook committed mortgage fraud as his reason for firing her from the seven-member board. But his first effort to remove her in August came after he, for months, had unsuccessfully pressured her, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, and other members of the central bank to cut interest ratesCook denies any wrongdoing in connection with statements she made before joining the Fed in applying for mortgages on two homes she owns in Michigan and Georgia. She has not been legally charged with making false statements on those mortgage applications.In its order on Wednesday, the Supreme Court bluntly said, without elaboration, that Trump's request to stay a federal district court's injunction against removing Cook is "deferred pending oral argument in January 2026." The actual date of the argument was not set.The order said that the Supreme Court's clerk would establish a schedule for the filing of legal briefs in the case, including ones by outside parties who have an interest in the outcome.The Trump administration's effort to remove Cook is seen as a potential landmark case on whether to maintain the Fed's long-held veneer of independence from political interference.Trump has insisted that the accusations against Cook meet the standard of "cause" required by the Federal Reserve Act to remove a Fed official. The Department of Justice in earlier filings had called the injunction barring Trump from firing Cook while her lawsuit is pending "yet another case of improper judicial interference with the President's removal authority.Cook's lawyers, A...